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Third Black Hawk crew member involved in deadly crash near DC airport identified
Capt. Rebecca Lobach smiles in the cockpit of a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, Feb. 28, 2024.
Samantha Brown
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Samantha Brown
The Army released the name of the third crew member of the Black Hawk helicopter that slammed into an American Airlines-affiliated flight above the Potomac River this week, killing 67 people.
Captain Rebecca Lobach was 28 years old and a native of Durham, N.C. She was a distinguished military graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and commissioned in 2019 as an active-duty aviation officer.
She died along with fellow pilot Chief Warrant Officer Andrew Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Md. and crew member Staff Sergeant Ryan O’Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Ga.
Initially, her family asked the Army to withhold her name asking for privacy. Such a move is unusual in such accidents or combat deaths.
Lobach had 500 hours of flight time, considered normal, while Eaves had 1,000 hours, deemed experienced.
Lobach’s best friend, First Lieutenant Samantha Brown, an active-duty field artillery soldier, described her as brilliant, dedicated and a fierce competitor.
Brown said she would march 12 miles with a 45 pound pack, at a pace faster than the standard for infantry soldiers. Lobach hoped to fly her Black Hawk at some point on a combat deployment and dreamed of one day becoming a doctor.
All three soldiers were on a training flight out of Fort Belvoir, Va., just south of Washington, at the time of the accident.
In a prepared statement, the Lobach family said, “We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Rebecca. She was a bright star in all our lives. She was kind, generous, brilliant, funny, ambitious and strong. No one dreamed bigger or worked harder to achieve her goals.”
Reduced margin for error
“Initial indications suggest this may have been a checkride, or periodic evaluation by an experienced instructor pilot of a less experienced pilot,” said Brad Bowman, a military analyst with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former Black Hawk pilot who after the 9/11 attacks flew out of Fort Belvoir on the same routes
“A checkride, as opposed to a normal training flight, creates some unique dynamics in the cockpit. In a checkride, the less experienced pilot can be nervous and eager to not make mistakes, while the instructor pilot is watching to see how the other pilot responds to different developments,” Bowman explained. “Sometimes an instructor pilot will test the less experienced aviator to see how they respond, but such a technique would have been unusual and inadvisable in that location given the reduced margin for error.”
The aircraft is supposed to maintain a height of 200 feet, but officials who were not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation told NPR that the Black Hawk may have been more than 100 feet higher.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has acknowledged that there may have been an elevation issue with the Black Hawk.
Officials said the tower at Reagan National Airport alerted the Black Hawk to the presence of American Eagle Flight 5342 on two occasions: once two minutes before the crash, the second one just 12 seconds before impact.
Investigators have recovered the black boxes from both aircraft and are still recovering the bodies.
The FAA has restricted all helicopter traffic along the route to Medevacs and VIP flights.
Diversity disinformation
The Black Hawk crash ushered in a wave of disinformation from social media focusing on diversity, inclusion and equity, or DEI. The Trump administration, including Hegseth, has pledged to wipe out diversity efforts across the government.
There were claims the female pilot was a transgender pilot from the Virginia National Guard named Jo Ellis. Ellis has posted a “proof of life” video on Facebook, denouncing the rumors and offering condolences to those killed in the crash.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., herself a decorated former Black Hawk pilot, told NPR she understood why the family initially declined to make their loved one’s name public.
“ We should be respecting the family’s wishes at a time when they have suffered an unbelievable loss,” Duckworth said. “I think it is a perfectly legitimate request the family would make. And I’m glad that the Army is honoring that request.”
Duckworth condemned the online speculation about the third member of the crew and especially President Trump’s musings that the Army crew was to blame. Speaking at the White House briefing room on Thursday, the President said, “I have helicopters. You can stop a helicopter very quickly. It had the ability to go up or down. It had the ability to turn, and the turn it made was not the correct turn, obviously.”
“Every one of those troops that was in that aircraft earned their place there, and they are the most highly trained military aviators in the world,” Duckworth said of Trump’s comments. “And I am just sick to my stomach that we would have a president who would say such things about the heroic men and women who serve every single day.”
An explosion and fire drew a large emergency response on Friday to a lumber mill in the Midcoast region of Maine, officials said.
The State Police and fire marshal’s investigators responded to Robbins Lumber in Searsmont, about 72 miles northeast of Portland, said Shannon Moss, a spokeswoman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
Mike Larrivee, the director of the Waldo County Regional Communications Center, said the number of victims was unknown, cautioning that “the information we’re getting from the scene is very vague.”
“We’ve sent every resource in the county to that area, plus surrounding counties,” he said.
Footage from the scene shared by WABI-TV showed flames burning through the roof of a large structure as heavy, dark smoke billowed skyward.
The Associated Press reported that at least five people were injured, and that county officials were considering the incident a “mass casualty event.”
Catherine Robbins-Halsted, an owner and vice president at Robbins Lumber, told reporters at the scene that all of the company’s employees had been accounted for.
Gov. Janet T. Mills of Maine said on social media that she had been briefed on the situation and urged people to avoid the area.
“I ask Maine people to join me in keeping all those affected in their thoughts,” she said.
Representative Jared Golden, Democrat of Maine, said on social media that he was aware of the fire and explosion.
“As my team and I seek out more information, I am praying for the safety and well-being of first responders and everyone else on-site,” he said.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Crime scene tape surrounds a bicycle in front of St. Lukes Episcopal Church in Atlanta on May 14, 2026. (SKYFOX 5)
ATLANTA – The woman stabbed to death on the Beltline has been identified as 23-year-old Alyssa Paige, according to the Fulton County Medical Examiner.
The backstory:
Paige was killed by a 21-year-old man Thursday afternoon while she was on the Beltline. Officials confirmed to FOX 5 that the stabbing happened near the 1700 block of Flagler Avenue NE.
Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said the department was alerted around 12:10 p.m. that a woman had been stabbed just north of the Montgomery Ferry Drive overpass. She was rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital where she later died. Another person was also stabbed during the incident, but their condition remains unknown.
According to officers, the man responsible attacked a U.S. Postal worker prior to the stabbing before getting away on a bike. He then used that bike to flee the scene of the stabbing as well.
The suspect was arrested near St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on Peachtree Street in Midtown around 5:25 p.m.
What we don’t know:
While officials haven’t released an official motive, they noted the man may have been suffering a mental health crisis.
The Source: Information in this article came from the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office and previous FOX 5 reporting.
Federal prosecutors have filed charges against a former Army serviceman they accused of distributing instructions on how to build explosives that were used by a man who conducted a deadly attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day last year.
The former serviceman, Jordan A. Derrick, a 40-year-old from Missouri, was charged with one count of engaging in the business of manufacturing explosive materials without a license; one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device; and one count of distributing information relating to manufacturing explosives, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Wednesday. The three charges together carry a maximum sentence of 40 years in federal prison.
Starting in September 2023, the authorities said, Mr. Derrick was using various social media sites to share videos of himself making explosive materials, including detonators. His videos provided step-by-step instructions, and he often engaged with viewers in comments, sometimes answering their questions about the chemistry behind the explosives.
The authorities said that Mr. Derrick’s videos were downloaded by Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, 42, who was accused of ramming a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on Jan. 1, 2025, in a terrorist attack that killed 14 people and injured dozens. Mr. Jabbar was killed in a shootout with the police. Before the attack, Mr. Jabbar had placed two explosives on Bourbon Street, the authorities said, but they did not detonate.
The authorities later recovered two laptops and a USB drive in a house that Mr. Jabbar had rented. The USB drive contained several videos created by Mr. Derrick that provided instructions on making explosives. The authorities said the explosives they recovered were consistent with the ones Mr. Derrick had posted about.
Mr. Derrick’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.
Mr. Derrick was a combat engineer in the Army, where he provided personnel and vehicle support, the authorities said. He also helped supervise safety personnel during demolitions and various operations. He was honorably discharged in February 2013.
The authorities did not say whether Mr. Derrick had any communication with Mr. Jabbar, or whether the men had known each other. In some of Mr. Derrick’s videos and comments, he indicated that he was aware that his videos could be misused.
“There are a plethora of uh, moral, you know, entanglements with topics, any topic of teaching explosives, right?” he asked in one video, according to the affidavit. “Of course, the wrong people could get it.”
The authorities also said that an explosion occurred at a private residence in Odessa, Mo., on May 4, and the occupant of the residence told investigators that he had manufactured explosives after watching online tutorials from Mr. Derrick.
Mr. Derrick’s YouTube account had more than 15,000 subscribers and 20 published videos, the affidavit said. He had also posted content on other platforms, including Odysee and Patreon. Some videos were accessible to the public for free, while others required a paid subscription to view.
“My responsibility to my countrymen is to make sure that I serve the function of the Second Amendment to strengthen it,” Mr. Derrick said in one of his videos, according to the affidavit. “This is how I serve my country for real.”
Outside of the income he received through content creation, Mr. Derrick did not have any known employment. He did receive a monthly disability check from Veterans Affairs, the affidavit stated.
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